Paul Manly delivering his victory speech following the second of his two election victories in 2019. (Spencer Sterritt/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

HISTORIC VOTES

Top Stories of 2019: Paul Manly elected twice as Nanaimo-Ladysmith MP

Jan 1, 2020 | 1:22 AM

NANAIMO — For residents of Nanaimo, 2019 was the year of the election with the results causing a cascading sequence of trips to the ballot box.

Victories at the municipal level by Leonard Krog in late 2018 and provincially by Sheila Malcolmson in January forced a federal by-election to determine Nanaimo-Ladysmith’s new Member of Parliament.

Voters went to the polls May 6, 2019 and overwhelmingly elected Paul Manly as the country’s second Green Party MP.

Manly secured 37.3 per cent of the votes, easily outpacing Conservative John Hirst (24.9 per cent) and NDP’s Bob Chamberlin (23 per cent).

“Our campaign slogan was ‘Together we can do this.’ Well, together we did it,” Manly said during his victory speech.

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The riding had long been considered an NDP stronghold. It was won by the party through Malcolmson in 2015 and surrounding provincial ridings are also considered safe NDP areas.

Manly’s time in Ottawa was brief as Canadians headed back to the polls on Oct. 21 for a scheduled federal election.

He faced a field of eight challengers including five who ran in the spring by-election.

While Manly’s winning margin narrowed slightly, it was still considered a comfortable victory with the riding declared shortly before 9 p.m. He claimed 34.6 per cent of the vote.

“We ran a really positive campaign,” Manly said during his second victory speech in nine months. “We talked about the things that we wanted, our vision for the future, our vision for our community and our vision for our country.”

The results from October’s vote largely mirrored the May by-election with Hirst polling second (25.9 per cent) and Chamberlin third (23.6 per cent).

Manly’s victory was part of a historic night for the federal Green Party, who secured three seats in Ottawa. Outgoing party leader Elizabeth May was comfortably re-elected in Saanich-Gulf Islands, while Jenica Atwin became the party’s first non-Vancouver Island MP after securing a Fredricton, NB. riding.

alex.rawnsley@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley